[photo by James Rexroad]
A new single from Portland shredders, TINY KNIVES, and the outfit’s Eolian Empire-bound Black Haze LP has been issued through an exclusive premiere via Paste Magazine’s metal column, Heaviösity.
Alongside the premiere of “Past Tense,” the mag declares that Black Haze is, “a more refined version of what they’ve been doing for the past six years. There are a few Pacific Northwest touchstones — particularly riot grrrl and some Melvins weirdness — sprinkled into their music, but TINY KNIVES is definitely breathing air on another planet.” Focusing on the track specifically it continues, “‘Past Tense’ steam rolls, rips and shreds, and the rest of the record promises to do the same. One of the best heavy releases of this early 2016.”
Check out Paste Magazine’s premiere of TINY KNIVES’ “Past Tense” RIGHT HERE.
The previously released Black Haze single “Cowschwitz” is also playing at New Noise Magazine HERE.
Portland-based outsider label, Eolian Empire, is preparing the band’s vinyl debut for release on February 5th. Preorders can be placed HERE.
Fixtures of the Portland underground scene for the last six years, TINY KNIVES combines anarcho-punk with frenzied rock ‘n’ roll and douses it in avant madness. See-sawing between full-speed-ahead riffage and heavy emotional bulldozing, sprinkled with startling prettiness, the trio coheres these stylistic shifts into a sound that rings familiar bells while resolutely being their own thing. And in the three years since their excellent cassette Static (released on compatriot label Stankhouse) the members of TINY KNIVES have clearly sharpened their chops and cranked up the intensity.
TINY KNIVES cuts deep with Black Haze; the rhythm section is a fine-tuned propulsion engine that turns on a dime, built on ’77 fundamentals but often veering sideways into strange times and modes, driven by fuzzed-out chords and vocals that shapeshift through brutal growls, rapid-fire shouts, lovely balladeering, and spoken word tirades. The album was recorded by Caravan Recordings with engineering handled by Andrew Grosse and Jose DeLara, the later also handling mixing, mastering duties. It’s a rant-fueled, maniacal, white-knuckled ride through Portland’s gritty back-alleys; killer stuff.
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